PART 6 PUNISHMENTS OF MILITARY OFFENCES AND
EXECUTION OF SENTENCES |
| Scale of punishments, etc. |
118.—(1) The punishments which may be awarded by sentence of a subordinate military court under this Act are, subject to section 112(1) and to this section —| (a) | death; | | (b) | imprisonment; | | (c) | discharge with ignominy; | | (d) | dismissal; | | (e) | special detention for a term not exceeding 3 months in a disciplinary barrack; | | (f) | detention for a term not exceeding 2 years; | | (g) | reduction in rank, except that —| (i) | an officer must not be reduced below the rank of second lieutenant; | | (ii) | a warrant officer must not be reduced below —| (A) | the rank of third warrant officer, if he or she was appointed as a warrant officer on or after 1 April 2010; or | | (B) | the rank of second warrant officer, if he or she was appointed as a warrant officer before that date; and |
| | (iii) | a senior military expert must not be reduced below the rank of ME4; |
| | (h) | forfeiture of seniority of rank and forfeiture of all or any part of his or her service for purposes of promotion; | | (i) | a fine; | | (j) | deduction of pay in the case of an offence which has occasioned any expense, loss or damage; | | (k) | reprimand; | | (l) | such minor punishments as may be authorised by the Armed Forces Council in regulations made under this Act, |
| and references in this Act to any punishment authorised by this Act are, subject to the limitation imposed in any particular case by the addition of the word “less” are references to any one or more of the punishments. |
[28/2009] | (2) For the purposes of this Part, a punishment specified in a paragraph in subsection (1) is to be treated as less than the punishments specified in the paragraphs preceding that paragraph and greater than those specified in the paragraphs following that paragraph. |
| (3) A person sentenced to death by a subordinate military court shall also be sentenced to discharge with ignominy. |
| (4) An officer, a warrant officer or a military expert of or above the rank of ME3 who is sentenced by a subordinate military court to imprisonment or special detention in a disciplinary barrack or detention shall also be sentenced to discharge with ignominy but, if the subordinate military court fails to give effect to this subsection, the sentence is not invalid but is deemed to include a sentence of discharge with ignominy from the Singapore Armed Forces. [28/2009] |
| (5) A soldier (other than a warrant officer or a military expert of the rank of ME3) or a non‑uniformed serviceman who is sentenced by a subordinate military court to imprisonment or special detention in a disciplinary barrack or detention may also be sentenced to discharge with ignominy. [28/2009] |
| (6) A discharge with ignominy under this section does not affect the liability of any person to perform national service under the Enlistment Act 1970. |
(7) Subject to section 112(1), the amount of a fine that may be awarded must not exceed —| (a) | in the case of officers and senior military experts — a sum of $30,000; and [Act 24 of 2022 wef 28/10/2022] | | (b) | in the case of soldiers and non-uniformed servicemen — a sum of $15,000, [Act 24 of 2022 wef 28/10/2022] |
| and any such fine may, if the court orders, be paid by instalment to be deducted from the offender’s pay. |
[6/2006; 28/2009] |
| (8) The Armed Forces Council may restore the whole or any part of any lost seniority or forfeited service in the case of a person subject to military law who has performed good and faithful service, or who may otherwise be deemed by the Armed Forces Council to merit such restoration. |
| (9) A person subject to military law when sentenced to forfeiture of seniority of rank, and a person subject to military law when sentenced to forfeiture of all or any part of his or her service for the purposes of promotion, may also be sentenced to a reprimand. |
| (10) Where a person subject to military law on active service is guilty of any offence, it is lawful for a subordinate military court to award for that offence such field punishment as may be prescribed in regulations made under this Act, and such field punishment may include confinement in such manner or place as may be so provided or such labour or employment as a person subject to military law could be subjected if the person were serving a sentence of imprisonment. |
| (11) In addition to or in lieu of any other punishment in respect of an offence committed by a person subject to military law on active service, it is lawful for a subordinate military court to order that the offender forfeits all ordinary pay for a period not exceeding 3 months commencing from the date on which the sentence is awarded. |
| (12) For the purpose of commutation of punishment, the field punishment mentioned in subsection (10) is deemed to be a less punishment than detention. |
| (13) In addition to or in lieu of any other punishment in respect of any offence, an offender convicted by a subordinate military court may be subject to forfeiture of any military decoration or military award. |
| (14) In addition to any of the punishments under subsection (1), a subordinate military court may order an accused person to pay to the party who sustained damage or loss through the offence compensation not exceeding $1,000. |
| (15) Nothing in subsection (14) prejudices the right of any person to a civil remedy for the recovery of damages beyond the amount of compensation ordered. |
| (16) In addition to or in lieu of any other punishment, where a person has been convicted of an offence under sections 17, 19, 21, 22, 23 and 47, a subordinate military court may sentence the person to caning not exceeding 12 strokes but such sentence must not be carried into effect unless confirmed by the Armed Forces Council. |
| (16A) Where a subordinate military court sentences a person to caning under section 112(1), that sentence must not be carried into effect unless confirmed by the Armed Forces Council. [Act 24 of 2022 wef 28/10/2022] |
(17) Despite anything in this Act, where an operationally ready national serviceman has been convicted of an offence under section 17, 19, 25 or 26, the subordinate military court, if it is satisfied on the facts of the particular offence that the operationally ready national serviceman, by the serviceman’s behaviour, conduct or deportment, has shown during the period of operationally ready national service referred to in section 14(1)(b) of the Enlistment Act 1970 that the serviceman is not responsive or amenable to military discipline, may —| (a) | in lieu of awarding the punishment prescribed by the section upon which the serviceman has been convicted or any less punishment authorised by this Act; and | | (b) | in addition to the serviceman’s liability under section 14 of the Enlistment Act 1970, |
| require the operationally ready national serviceman, to serve for such further period or periods of operationally ready national service not exceeding 12 months in the aggregate as the court may, in the circumstances of each particular case, decide. |
|
| (18) The subordinate military court is to award the punishment referred to in subsection (17) only where it is satisfied that the operationally ready national serviceman is fit for operationally ready national service and considers that it is in the best interests of the Singapore Armed Forces that the operationally ready national serviceman should render a further period of operationally ready national service. |
| (19) For the purposes of this Part, the punishment referred to in subsection (17) is to be treated as a less punishment than that specified in subsection (1)(e) and is to be treated as a sentence imposed by a subordinate military court for purposes of review and appeal under this Act. |
|
| Punishment for aggravated disciplinary barrack offences |
| 119.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), a person serving a sentence of special detention in a disciplinary barrack who is found after due inquiry to be guilty of an aggravated disciplinary barrack offence may be punished by the officer or senior military expert in charge of a disciplinary barrack with caning not exceeding 12 strokes. [28/2009] | (2) The officer or senior military expert in charge of a disciplinary barrack must not award any caning without the approval of the Armed Forces Council. [28/2009] |
(3) For the purposes of this section, an aggravated disciplinary barrack offence is —| (a) | mutiny as defined in section 15; | | (b) | escape or attempt to escape; | | (c) | striking or otherwise using violence to, or offering violence to, any person superior in rank or on the staff of the disciplinary barrack; | | (d) | aggravated or repeated assault on any other person serving special detention in a disciplinary barrack; | | (e) | wilful destruction of Singapore Armed Forces property; | | (f) | wilfully causing self-illness, self-injury or disability; | | (g) | wilfully making a false or groundless complaint against any person superior in rank or on the staff of the disciplinary barrack; | | (h) | repetition of any minor disciplinary barrack offence after having been twice punished for such minor offence; | | (i) | any other act of gross misconduct or insubordination; or | | (j) | abetting the commission of any aggravated disciplinary barrack offence. |
|
| (4) Minor disciplinary barrack offences are to be prescribed by regulations made under this Act. |
| (5) When any caning is imposed under this section upon any person serving a sentence of special detention in a disciplinary barrack, the person shall not be liable to more than one such sentence in respect of the act or acts, or omission or omissions, for which the person has been sentenced. |
|
120.—(1) Subsections (2) and (3) have effect in relation to the suspension of a sentence of imprisonment or special detention in a disciplinary barrack or detention passed by a subordinate military court or by a disciplinary officer.| (2) It is lawful for a subordinate military court or a disciplinary officer when passing a sentence of imprisonment or special detention in a disciplinary barrack or detention to order that the sentence must be suspended and the accused must not in that event be committed to prison or disciplinary barrack or detention barrack. |
(3) Where any such sentence is suspended and the offender so sentenced is sentenced for a fresh offence during the period of suspension —| (a) | by a subordinate military court to imprisonment or special detention in a disciplinary barrack or to detention; or | | (b) | by a disciplinary officer to detention, |
| then the court or the disciplinary officer may cancel the suspension of the earlier sentence and the court or the disciplinary officer has to direct whether the 2 sentences are to run concurrently or consecutively. |
|
|
|
| Commencement of sentences |
121.—(1) The term of imprisonment or special detention in a disciplinary barrack or detention to which a person subject to military law is sentenced by a subordinate military court or a term of detention awarded by a disciplinary officer whether the person is already undergoing sentence or not takes effect from the date on which it was passed unless the court or the disciplinary officer passing the sentence otherwise directs.| (2) A sentence of imprisonment or special detention in a disciplinary barrack or detention passed by a subordinate military court or sentence of detention passed by a disciplinary officer or when there has been an appeal, by the Military Court of Appeal, which is suspended under section 120, must not start to run until the beginning of the date on which the suspension is cancelled. |
|
| Sentence of detention or special detention in disciplinary barrack |
122.—(1) A person sentenced to detention under this Act must, unless otherwise provided for in regulations made under this Act, serve the person’s sentence in detention barracks.| (2) A person must not in any event be required to serve any part of a sentence of detention in a military or civil prison except that in such cases and subject to such conditions as may be specified in any regulations made under this Act a person serving such a sentence may be temporarily detained in a military or civil prison for any period not exceeding 7 days and thereafter must be transferred to detention barracks. |
| (3) A person sentenced to special detention in a disciplinary barrack must, unless otherwise provided for in any regulations made under this Act, serve the person’s sentence in a disciplinary barrack. |
|
| Civil prisons may receive military prisoners |
123. It is lawful for the Commissioner of Prisons appointed under section 20 of the Prisons Act 1933 or any Superintendent of Prisons, in accordance with any regulations made under this Act, to receive any person —| (a) | sentenced by a subordinate military court duly sent to the Commissioner or Superintendent pursuant to such regulations and to confine the person until execution of the sentence is completed or the prisoner is discharged or delivered over in due course of law; | | (b) | delivered into the Commissioner’s or Superintendent’s custody as a deserter or absentee without leave by any person conveying the person under legal authority on production of a warrant of a magistrate on which such deserter or absentee without leave has been taken or committed; and | | (c) | in military custody and detain the person for a period not exceeding 7 days. [1/2014] |
|
| Provisions as to persons unlawfully at large |
124.—(1) A person who, having been sentenced by a subordinate military court to imprisonment or detention or to detention by a disciplinary officer, is at large may (without prejudice to any other power of arrest) be arrested by any police officer without warrant and taken to any place in which the person may be required to be detained in accordance with this Act or any regulations made under this Act.| (2) Where any person sentenced by a subordinate military court to imprisonment or detention or sentenced to detention by a disciplinary officer is at large at any time during the period for which the person is liable to be detained pursuant to the sentence, no account is to be taken, in calculating the period for which the person is liable to be so detained, of any time elapsing after the person was at large and before the person is either taken into custody or received into a military prison, whether pursuant to the same sentence or to a sentence of any other court. |
|
| Mode of executing sentence of caning |
| 125.—(1) This section applies to a sentence of caning awarded under section 112(1) or in respect of an offence specified in section 118(16) or 119. [Act 24 of 2022 wef 28/10/2022] | (2) The caning awarded at any one trial must not exceed 24 strokes in the case of a person who is 16 years of age or older or 10 strokes in the case of a person below 16 years of age. |
| (3) Caning must be inflicted on such part of the person as the Minister may direct. |
| (4) The rattan must not exceed 6.35 millimetres in diameter. |
| (5) In no case may caning be inflicted upon any person under this section until a medical certificate has been issued by a medical officer to the effect that the person is in a fit condition of health to undergo the punishment. |
| (6) A person on whom caning is to be inflicted must wear such protective clothing as may be prescribed. |
|
| Power of President to grant pardon and to mitigate punishment, etc. |
126. The President, as occasion may arise, may, on the advice of the Cabinet —| (a) | grant a pardon to any accomplice in any offence who gives information which leads to the conviction of the principal offender or any one of the principal offenders, if more than one; | | (b) | grant to any offender convicted of any offence in any subordinate military court, a pardon, free or subject to lawful conditions, or any reprieve or respite, either indefinite or for such period as the President may think fit, of the execution of any sentence pronounced on such offender; or | | (c) | remit the whole or any part of such sentence or of any penalty or forfeiture imposed by law. |
|
|
|
